Editorial Viewpoint
“Over a cup of tea”
While viewing the dismal future of the Parsi clergy, the new High Priest of Navsari Dastur Kaikhushro N. Dastoor Meherjirana pinned his hopes on the arrival of a savior.
The chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Dinshaw Mehta in a letter to The Bombay Samachar published on March 21, 2010 while referring to the “universal complaint …of our declining population in India (and) the decline in the number of practicing priests …welcomed any suggestions or ideas to reverse the trend.”
Jimmy Mistry’s Parsi Resource Group believed, like so many other organizations before, that the lure of money would attract new entrants to the priesthood. He, like the others, overlooked the fact that it is a calling. Added to the problem is that existing priests do not encourage their children to become priests. As Dastoor mentions in an interview in this issue, his father Navroz ensured his three sons did not take up the priesthood. Kaikhushro in turn did not encourage his two sons to don the jama (priestly robes).
In an article titled “Responding to the Government’s one crore offer,” Harvard PhD student Dinyar Patel states: “I agree with Dr Shernaz Cama of Parzor that Parsis need to make a significant attitudinal change” to cope with the late marriages or no marriages syndrome.
“To start with the BPP can coordinate a community-wide marriage portal on the internet,” provide housing to those intending to start a family and “promote better religious and cultural education and awareness” to instill pride in being a Parsi and Zoroastrian.
When interviewing Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal a few years ago to every point raised about the dwindling population, the high percentage of interfaith marriages, the declining number of priests, his stock reply was he was “an optimist.”
In several informal discussions on the community with lawyer Nadir Modi he maintained that much could be achieved by bringing people together, discussing issues and resolving problems.
The Government of India’s one crore rupee offer for diminishing minorities in India has been criticized by many as being too small a sum to achieve any impact. But what the Parsis, if not the other dwindling groups, require is not more money. Crores of rupees have already been spent, the bulk of it on community housing. But the population did not grow. It actually declined from a high of 1,14,000 in 1940 to 69,601 in 2000. What went wrong?
People believed that young Parsis were not getting married due to a lack of housing. But had they looked around they would have found that in other communities the young, even without homes of their own, were marrying and giving birth to children. Hence while housing is essential to improve the quality of life, it is not life giving. Cusrow Baug, labeled the queen of colonies, has a concentration of three individuals to a flat.
Parsis were following the Western trend of late or no marriage and small, nuclear families. With women’s emancipation and education, keeping the child bearing years to the minimum became the practice.
The BPP and other organizations have funded several research projects on the community. The findings have been published, disseminated and discussed. One recalls at several Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meetings worthwhile suggestions coming from delegates. But they were seldom acted upon.
So also with our world congresses. Since the first meet in 1961 (the year was referred to as 1960 but Dr Farhang Mehr, deputy prime minister of Iran, who attended all the Congresses, save two, gave us the correct year) there has been no follow up mechanism and no world body formed. Instead of moving forward, the BPP intends to label the next congress a Parsi Irani Zoroastrian meet. Thus not only are we standing in the same place while running but we’re actually moving backwards. The laws of physics do not seem to apply to Parsis.
After a year-and-a-half in office the BPP trustees’ report card could be a D or a C- at best. They are reported to have spent around Rs 24,00,000 on the litigation to ban one priest, Ervad Khushroo Madon from praying at Doongerwadi — the other priest Ervad Framroze Mirza accepted the ban and termed it lawful. Madon pleaded with the trustees to settle the matter “over a cup of tea.” At a meeting of the trustees he asked permission to pray only twice or thrice in a year at Doongerwadi and that too for close friends or family members. Instead he was told by the chairman that if he ventured on the premises he would be physically thrown out (Mehta denies the threat). The lawyers for the petitioners fought pro bono. So also in the case of the Valsad agiary trustees barring a Parsi woman married to a non-Parsi admission to the fire temple. Her lawyers are fighting free of cost. The Valsad trust, or its Ahmedabad well wisher, will pay heavy legal fees to their counsels. The ultimate loser is the community.
It is evident that good intentions and dollops of money alone will not alleviate our lot. We need to know firstly what to do and then how to go about raising the resources to do things. Too many knee jerk reactions have taken the place of thoughtful action.
Years ago writer and thinker Aspi Moddie had suggested a think tank be formed. The worry of course was that the wrong kind of people would get on it. In the 2008 BPP elections lawyer Berjis Desai had put together a team consisting of several outstanding community members. What we need now is to once again scout around for people who are above community politics yet possess the requisite skills to study issues dispassionately and present an honest assessment of what can and cannot be done.
Most people who are involved with community issues may not have the detachment and objectivity required to examine contentious and complex issues. Their recommendations, however good, may be viewed skeptically or even adversely. Hence the requirement for people from industry, medicine, finance, the arts, academics, social sciences, the sciences and so on to serve. Prominent people shy away from politics. They avoid needless confrontation. But an appointment to a non-political board may just be the incentive to draw them into community service.
If nothing else, a think tank that could even prevent needless litigation would be worth its weight in guineas.
The chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Dinshaw Mehta in a letter to The Bombay Samachar published on March 21, 2010 while referring to the “universal complaint …of our declining population in India (and) the decline in the number of practicing priests …welcomed any suggestions or ideas to reverse the trend.”
Jimmy Mistry’s Parsi Resource Group believed, like so many other organizations before, that the lure of money would attract new entrants to the priesthood. He, like the others, overlooked the fact that it is a calling. Added to the problem is that existing priests do not encourage their children to become priests. As Dastoor mentions in an interview in this issue, his father Navroz ensured his three sons did not take up the priesthood. Kaikhushro in turn did not encourage his two sons to don the jama (priestly robes).
In an article titled “Responding to the Government’s one crore offer,” Harvard PhD student Dinyar Patel states: “I agree with Dr Shernaz Cama of Parzor that Parsis need to make a significant attitudinal change” to cope with the late marriages or no marriages syndrome.
“To start with the BPP can coordinate a community-wide marriage portal on the internet,” provide housing to those intending to start a family and “promote better religious and cultural education and awareness” to instill pride in being a Parsi and Zoroastrian.
When interviewing Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal a few years ago to every point raised about the dwindling population, the high percentage of interfaith marriages, the declining number of priests, his stock reply was he was “an optimist.”
In several informal discussions on the community with lawyer Nadir Modi he maintained that much could be achieved by bringing people together, discussing issues and resolving problems.
The Government of India’s one crore rupee offer for diminishing minorities in India has been criticized by many as being too small a sum to achieve any impact. But what the Parsis, if not the other dwindling groups, require is not more money. Crores of rupees have already been spent, the bulk of it on community housing. But the population did not grow. It actually declined from a high of 1,14,000 in 1940 to 69,601 in 2000. What went wrong?
People believed that young Parsis were not getting married due to a lack of housing. But had they looked around they would have found that in other communities the young, even without homes of their own, were marrying and giving birth to children. Hence while housing is essential to improve the quality of life, it is not life giving. Cusrow Baug, labeled the queen of colonies, has a concentration of three individuals to a flat.
Parsis were following the Western trend of late or no marriage and small, nuclear families. With women’s emancipation and education, keeping the child bearing years to the minimum became the practice.
The BPP and other organizations have funded several research projects on the community. The findings have been published, disseminated and discussed. One recalls at several Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meetings worthwhile suggestions coming from delegates. But they were seldom acted upon.
So also with our world congresses. Since the first meet in 1961 (the year was referred to as 1960 but Dr Farhang Mehr, deputy prime minister of Iran, who attended all the Congresses, save two, gave us the correct year) there has been no follow up mechanism and no world body formed. Instead of moving forward, the BPP intends to label the next congress a Parsi Irani Zoroastrian meet. Thus not only are we standing in the same place while running but we’re actually moving backwards. The laws of physics do not seem to apply to Parsis.
After a year-and-a-half in office the BPP trustees’ report card could be a D or a C- at best. They are reported to have spent around Rs 24,00,000 on the litigation to ban one priest, Ervad Khushroo Madon from praying at Doongerwadi — the other priest Ervad Framroze Mirza accepted the ban and termed it lawful. Madon pleaded with the trustees to settle the matter “over a cup of tea.” At a meeting of the trustees he asked permission to pray only twice or thrice in a year at Doongerwadi and that too for close friends or family members. Instead he was told by the chairman that if he ventured on the premises he would be physically thrown out (Mehta denies the threat). The lawyers for the petitioners fought pro bono. So also in the case of the Valsad agiary trustees barring a Parsi woman married to a non-Parsi admission to the fire temple. Her lawyers are fighting free of cost. The Valsad trust, or its Ahmedabad well wisher, will pay heavy legal fees to their counsels. The ultimate loser is the community.
It is evident that good intentions and dollops of money alone will not alleviate our lot. We need to know firstly what to do and then how to go about raising the resources to do things. Too many knee jerk reactions have taken the place of thoughtful action.
Years ago writer and thinker Aspi Moddie had suggested a think tank be formed. The worry of course was that the wrong kind of people would get on it. In the 2008 BPP elections lawyer Berjis Desai had put together a team consisting of several outstanding community members. What we need now is to once again scout around for people who are above community politics yet possess the requisite skills to study issues dispassionately and present an honest assessment of what can and cannot be done.
Most people who are involved with community issues may not have the detachment and objectivity required to examine contentious and complex issues. Their recommendations, however good, may be viewed skeptically or even adversely. Hence the requirement for people from industry, medicine, finance, the arts, academics, social sciences, the sciences and so on to serve. Prominent people shy away from politics. They avoid needless confrontation. But an appointment to a non-political board may just be the incentive to draw them into community service.
If nothing else, a think tank that could even prevent needless litigation would be worth its weight in guineas.
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